Help save a beloved and historic gem

Tom Stanton, author of the book “The Final Season: Fathers, Sons, and One Last Season in a Classic American Ballpark,” said it best when he wrote “Old buildings bring life to stories. They put a foundation to memories.”

Those memories may soon be torn down after a near secret decision earlier this week by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) to demolish what’s left of beautiful and historic Tiger Stadium in the next couple weeks, dashing the hopes, dreams and hard work of the all-volunteer Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy and baseball fans all over the world. Apparently, the meeting where the decision took place occurred with little notice, and no one from the Conservancy was there to speak for the historic stadium that holds millions of cherished memories for generations of Michiganders and former Michiganders.

The Conservancy had hopes to preserve what’s left of the historic stadium at the most famous location in sports at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, just a dugout-to-dugout section, into a $27 million redevelopment project. The remaining stadium would be converted to commercial space and a community center. The playing field would be renovated for youth and high school baseball and community events. Renovated Tiger Stadium will include museum quality exhibits, a banquet hall and retail. Fans will be able to explore the clubhouses, dugouts and the broadcast booth. The most exciting feature that will bring visitors from all over the world to the Stadium and Detroit will be the Harwell Museum.

Beloved and Hall of Fame former Tiger’s broadcaster Ernie Harwell has an extensive and priceless baseball memorabilia collection that is second only to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown he wants to display at the Stadium.

If the DEGC is successful in demolishing the stadium, the Conservancy will lose seven years of hard work and the $22 million they have secured thus far in federal earmarks, grants, and tax credits and the city will lose the jobs the project would create. But far more importantly, baseball fans will lose one of the city’s – and the nation’s – historic gems, creating yet another vacant, blighted space in Detroit.

Thom Linn, President of Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, said there is strong, widespread support for the project, from stadium neighbors in Detroit’s historic Corktown to the entire metro region and beyond. The public outcry over the DEGC’s action has even reached the national news: On Wednesday night on his MSNBC show, Keith Olbermann expressed his outrage about it. Why the city’s leadership made this bad and shortsighted decision is unclear.

Could you imagine the outcry if anyone tried to demolish the beautiful Capitol Building in Lansing, the Fox Theatre or the historic Livingston County Courthouse? Then why are we giving up something with so many pleasant memories so easily?

It’s not too late, and if you love Tiger Stadium like I do then contact the city’s leaders, the state’s leaders and the media and tell them not to destroy memories, history and jobs.

Here is a list of contacts:

-Detroit Mayor David Bing, 313- 224-3400 (9am-5pm)
Fax: 313-224-4433
-all Detroit City Council members


-Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. 313-224-4505 Kenneth.Cockrel@http://www.facebook.com/l/;detroitmi.gov

-Monica Conyers 313-224-4530 ConyersM@http://www.facebook.com/l/;cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Sheila Cockrel 313-224-1337 S-Cockrel_mb@http://www.facebook.com/l/;ckrl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Barbara Rose Collins 313-224-1299 Collins_MB@http://www.facebook.com/l/;cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Brenda Jones 313-224-1245 bjones_mb@http://www.facebook.com/l/;cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Kwame Kenyatta 313-224-1198 K-Kenyatta_MB@http://www.facebook.com/l/;cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Martha Reeves 313-224-4510 m-reeves_MB@http://www.facebook.com/l/;cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Alberta Tinsley Talabi 313-224-1645 A_Talabi_mb@http://www.facebook.com/l/;atwpo.ci.detroit.mi.us

-JoAnn Watson 313-224-4535 WatsonJ@http://www.facebook.com/l/;cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us

-Governor Jennifer Granholm (517) 373-3400

-news media of your choice; for starters:
Detroit Free Press –
-City Desk 313-222-6600

-Jim Wilhelm, City Desk Editor 313-222-6521 jwilhelm@http://www.facebook.com/l/;freepress.com

Detroit News
-Front desk 313-222-2300
-Nolan Finley, Editorial Page Editor 313-222-2064
-Walter Middlebrook, Assistant Managing Editor/Metro (313) 222-2429

Author talks about generational connection with Tiger Stadium

HOWELL -- “Old buildings bring life to stories. They put a foundation to memories.”

That’s a quote from the preface of Michigan author Tom Stanton’s book “The Final Season: Fathers, Sons, and One Last Season in a Classic American Ballpark.” Stanton decided to attend and document all 81 homes games in historic Tiger stadium during the final season of the stadium in 1999.

“Some people are put off by the fact that I went to all 81 games, and they think it’s a rehash of what happened about the games,” Stanton said. “It’s much more than that.”

The book is more about how four generations of his Michigan family are connected through Tiger Stadium. It’s a human story about his relationship with his teenage son, his father and his father’s brothers. It is also a look at Tiger Stadium’s final season through the eyes the fans who love the historic stadium, as well as through the eyes of the stadium ushers, concessionaires, parking lot attendants, broadcasters and ballplayers.

The former journalist has written three books since he published The Final Season nine years ago, but he has not received nearly the amount of feedback from the others.

“It’s still in print; which is really amazing,” Stanton said. “I still get letters every week through the web site on the book.
“So many generations have been touched through Tiger Stadium,” he said. “People see their own story in the book.”

Stanton’s book is one of the two books chosen as part of Livingston Reads 2009. The theme this year is "Play Ball.“ The six district libraries in the county choose a book for the entire community to read. The goal is to get people talking about the book, and they also hold a series of coordinated events at each library that includes author talks, movies and other events. Livingston Read runs through May 31.

Stanton spoke last week at the Howell Carnegie District Library before a room full of baseball and Tiger Stadium fans, and his stories and anecdotes entertained the crowd.

“This is nothing against basketball, football or hockey, but there is no body of literature like there is romanticizing baseball,” he said.

Stanton’s book bemoans the fact that there has never been a successful effort to save or preserve any baseball stadium. In the book, he talks to a woman who was part of a group dedicated to saving iconic Fenway Park in Boston; the oldest major league stadium that opened the same day as Tiger Stadium.

There is an effort to save what remains of Tiger Stadium at one of the most famous addresses in U.S. History, Michigan and Trumbull, where baseball has been played before the turn of the 20th Century. Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy plans to use the preserved portion of the old ballpark as a magnet for economic development.

The project includes a dugout-to-dugout section that would be converted to commercial space, a museum housing the second largest collection on baseball memorabilia in the country and a community center. The playing field would be renovated for youth and high school baseball and community events.

I can just imagine the outcry - which I agree with - if someone tried to tear down the historic Livingston County Courthouse. Then why is it OK to tear down something as historic, memory-filled and beloved as Tiger Stadium?

Stanton said he had to be there when Tiger Stadium underwent the initial demolition, much like you have to be at the bedside of a dying parent to tell them how you really feel about them and to say goodbye.

“Every time I went by the stadium, there were people there at all times of the day,” Stanton said. “You have to be a baseball fan to understand when you saw tears in their eyes.”

If you save it they will come

If you build it, they will come, or to modify the famous premise of the classic Kevin Costner baseball movie “Field of Dreams,” if you refurbish it they will come. It being historic Tiger Stadium. I know I will come.

Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy is working hard to preserve what’s left of historic Tiger Stadium at one of the most famous addresses in U.S. History, Michigan and Trumbull. Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy plans to use the preserved portion of the old ballpark as a magnet for economic development in a distressed area, and the ambitious $27 million redevelopment project includes a dugout-to-dugout section that would be converted to commercial space and a community center. The playing field would be renovated for youth and high school baseball and community events.

What a thrill it would be to play on the same field as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg, George Kell, Al Kaline, Bill Freehan, Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker, not to mention Detroit Lions Lem Barney, Joe Schmidt, Bobby Layne and Charlie Sanders.

Renovated Tiger Stadium will include museum quality exhibits, a banquet hall and retail. Fans will be able to explore the clubhouses, dugouts and the broadcast booth. The most exciting feature that will bring visitors from all over the world to the Stadium and Detroit will be the Harwell Museum.

Hall of Fame Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell has been the voice of the Tigers from 1960 to 2002, and his collection of baseball memorabilia is second only to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. I made a pilgrimage to Cooperstown a few years ago, and it is an experience I will never forget. I hesitate to put a price tag on Ernie’s collection, considering he is priceless, but it is easily in the millions of dollars. It would be great to be Cooperstown Midwest.

The good news is President Obama‘s recently approved $410-billion omnibus spending bill has a $3.8 million expenditure to help preserve Tiger Stadium and spur economic development. Some idiots, both at the national level and amazingly even here in our own state, oppose that as wasteful spending. Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn pushed an amendment to the legislation that would strip out 11 earmarks that he said “looked a little stinky to me.” Tiger Stadium was No. 2 on Coburn’s hit list. That ridiculous amendment failed.

Preservation of historic buildings is an important function, and is there anything more historic to more generations of Michiganders that Tiger Stadium and the Corner?

Professional baseball has been played at the Corner of Michigan and Trumbull since 1895, and from 1912 to 1999 generations of fathers and sons have enjoyed watching great baseball while making memories that last a lifetime, whether it was at Bennett Park, Navin Field, Briggs Stadium or Tiger Stadium.

Memories of the first time people ever set foot in Tiger Stadium are as numerous as mosquitoes on a July evening in Michigan. I was just 10-years-old when I made a group trip with the Monroe Midget Baseball League in 1968. We were all in our uniforms, and I will never forget when I stepped up the ramp to the left field bleachers and took in the field for the first time. The green of the outfield grass literally took my breath away, and it cemented my growing love affair with baseball and Tiger Stadium that has never ended; even when it was severely tested during the season when a strike wiped out the World Series.

To really get a feel for Tiger Stadium, read the book by Tom Stanton called “The Final Season.” The journalist attended all 81 homes in the final season, and it’s a touching and memorable book. His book was chosen as the book for Livingston Reads 2009, and he will be appearing at the Howell Carnegie District Library at 6:30 p.m. March 26. Registration is not required.

More importantly, to make a donation to save Tiger Stadium and preserve the most historic ball park in America, send a personal check to

The Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy
PO Box 141193
Detroit, MI 48214

The Conservancy is a tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible.